Shoemaker&#39;s last



I. C(TORCHIA. SHOEMAKERS LA$L APPLICATION FILED OCT-25. l920.

Patented Apr. 25, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

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SHOEMAKER'S LAST.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 0.

1,413,636. Patented Apr. 25, 1922.

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I JULIUS o. ronorrre, or HAZHLETON, PEiiNsYLy nIA. 7,

' SHOEMAKERE3'LAST. 5

T 0 all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, J LiUs C.

I-Iazleton, in the county of Luzerne and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in, Shoemakers Lasts, of which the following is a specifi cation. V

This invention relates to improvements in shoe makers lasts and more particularly to an improved supporting means for the last. One type of last now ingeneral use comprises. a supporting member which is shaped for disposal upon the lap. and which is provided. in its central portion with a tapered opening or socket having a'fluted wall to receive the tapered fluted shank of the last, and the. shank and socket are so formed that. the shank maybe disposed Within the socket in any one of four different ways so that the anvil of the last may be positioned with its toe portion pointed forwardly orrearwardly or to either side, but in order to change the position of the last it'is necessary to lift the shankout of the socket and then turn the last. to the desired position and again fit the shank into the socket. However, as the last, in use, is subjected to-heavy blows and as the shank and socket are tapered, it usually happensthat the shank becomes tightly wedged in the socket rendering its removal difficult. Fur-' thermore, while the last may be adjusted to assume any one of four different positions, it

cannot be adjusted to assume any intermediate position which might be'desirable to the user of the last. Therefore one of the primary-objects of the invention is to provide a last support so constructed asto permit of freerotative adjustment of the last so that the anvil thereof may be caused to assume-any position of angular adjustment which the user may find most convenient.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the supporting means for the last that none of the parts thereof will be liable to become wedgedthrough the force of the blows struck upon the last','and so that, re-

gardless of the blows struck, the last may be freely adjusted to assume the desired angular position.

A further object of the invention is to provide for the employment of the usual foot strap in connection with the last to holdthe work, without in any way interfering with the adjustment of the last.

Application filed October 25, 1920, Serial no. 419,188;

. i In the accompanylng draw1ngs: f TORCHIA, a citizen of the United States, resldingat oflast supportembodying. the invention Flgure 2 is a vertical front to rear-sectional view through the said support, the last supported thereby being shownin ele vation; V ;'f :1 V liigure 3 is a group perspective view illuscrating the several members of the device disassembled; 1- V Figure 4 -is a view illustrating a modifi-' cation. g I In the drawings, the numeral]. indicates n general a supporting member having an intermediate body portion 2 and lateral limb embracing wings 3 adapting the memfirmly supported in position. The intermediate portion 2 of the supporting member is formedin its upper face with an; annular depression or seat 4 surrounding a central Specification of Letters Patent. Patent-ea Ap 1922".

Figure l is perspectlve view of one-form v opening5. Ordinarilyin this type'of last 1 support, there is employed a member cor.- respondlng to the supporting member'l have portion formed in its wall with flutes,this

ng a tapered socket in theintermediatebody socket being-designed to receive the tapered fluted shank of the last to be supported. However,,.as prevlously pointed out, this structure possesses the disadvantage'that in orderto angularly adjust the last soas to present the anvil portion thereof in different i directions, it is necessary to lift the shank of the last out of the socket and, after turning the last to the desired position, again dispose the shank within the socket. Also, as previously, pointed out, the shank frequently becomes wedged in the socket rendering its removal more or less diflicult. 1 In the present construction however, the member l is as stated formed with the opening5 and the surrounding seat 4, and thisopening 5 is cylindrical and rotatably receives a.

cylindrical boss 6 formedfupon the under side of a circular base member indicated in 'eneral b the numeral 7 which member is g y a V i of a diameterto fit rotatablywithinthe seat 5. Q'The'base' Inem ber 7 is formed axially with an opening 8, and when the member is disposed within the opening 5 and seat 4, it is freely rotatable with'relation to the supporting member 1.

The opening 8 in the member 7 is designed to receive the shank 9 of a socket member 10, and the socket of this member is indicated by the numeral 11 and opens through the ioo upper end of said member. A set screw 12 may be threadedthrough one side of the boss 6 of the base member 7 and binds at its end against the said shank so that this mem ber is connected with the said base member 7 and is therefore rotatably adjustable with the said base member. 7 The socket 11 in the upper end of the member lO is designed to receive the shank 13 of any ordinary last 14: as best shown in Figure. 2 of the drawings, the said socket 11 being shaped to conform to the flat sided shank of any ordinary type of last. 7

From the foregoing it will be evident that with the parts assembled in the manner stated the last 1% is afforded firm support and may be instantly rotatably adjusted so as to assume any angular position found most convenient for the workman. i

In order that afoot strap may be employed in connection with the last supported by the member 10, the base member 7 is formed at diai'netrically 'opposite'sides of the opening 8 with slots 15 which at their lower ends open into grooves 16 which extend longitudinally vertically of the boss 6, and the said strap, which is indicated in the draw ings by the numeral 17 is adapted to be passed through the slots 15 and grooves 16 and to be engaged over the last in the manner shown in Figure 1 of the drawings. Inasmuch as the side stretches of the holding strap 17' seat within the grooves 16 in the surface of the boss 6, the presence of the strapdoes not in any way interfere with rotative adjustment of the base member 7 as the grooves 16. are'of a depth greater than the thickness of the strap. Therefore, by relieving'the pressure of the foot from the holding strap momentarily, the base 7 and the last supported thereon may be angularly adjusted instantly without the necessity of temporarily dismounting the last. Furthermore, the last is capable of a wide range of adjustment inasmuch as it may be adjusted to any desired angle instead of to only one or another of a predetermined number of positions as in the ordinary structure.

In the foregoing the invention has been described as employed in connection with a supporting member which is designed for application tothe lap but it is possible to make use of the principles of the invention when it is desired to employ a work bench, and this may be done, as illustrated in Figure 4: of the drawings, by providin in the top of such a bench a seat'29 7 designed to receive the base member 7 in precisely the same manner inwhich this member is received in the seat at and opening 5 in the body portion of the member 1. In this case the holding strap, which is indicated by the numeral 80, is arranged in the same manner as in the previously described form, having its opposite stretches passed downwardly through the grooves 16 so as not to interfere with rotative adjustment of the base member 7 and the lower portion of the strap may be connected as at 31 with a foot lever 82 adapted to be depressed and retained in adjusted positionby a rack 33.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is: p

1. In a device of the class described, a supporting member having an opening and a seat surrounding the opening, a basemember rotatably fitting the seat and having a bossrotatably fitting the opening, the said basehaving an opening formed therein and being provided at opposite sides of the opening with slots and having its boss formed with grooves communicating with the slots, a socket member having a-shank seated within the openin within the base, and a hold-' ing strap having side stretches passing through the slots and extending into the grooves. V a

2. In a device of the class described,a supporting member having an intermediate an opening formed therein andprovidedpat' opposite sides ofthe opening with slots each extending from the upper to the lower sides of the base member, a socketmember having ashank removably seated .within the opening in the base member, means for connecting the said shank with the base for rotative adjustment therewith, and a holding strap having side stretches passing through the slots in the said base member. 7 7

In testimony whereof I affix my signature. I

JULIUS G. TOROI-IIA. [1 s.] 

